Vashon Island native, chef Alvin Binuya, who helped add the words "fusion cuisine" to the nation's culinary lexion, is the proud owner of Madoka Restaurant on Bainbridge Island...Those who didn't know Binuya when he was a boy-wunderkind, take note: He worked under Tom Douglas at Café Sport, as the original chef-exec at the Brooklyn and garnered national attention for Ponti...

New Belltown Watering Hole; Bainbridge goes pan-Asian, January 11, 2006
Nancy Leson, Seattle Times restaurant critic

After too many years catering to the drink-my-dinner crowd, executive chef Alvin Binuya quietly left Axis in April. Today he's proud co-owner of Madoka (241 Winslow Way W., Bainbridge Island, 206-842-2448; www.madokaonbainbridge.com), a "Pan-Pacific" restaurant open since October in the re-envisioned former home of Bistro Pleasant Beach.

"It's really refreshing to be away from the downtown thing," says the Vashon Island native who helped add the words "fusion cuisine" to the nation's culinary lexicon. "It's rejuvenating. Here, I can go back to creating and working on a smaller, less-competitive scale."

Those who didn't know Binuya when he was a boy-wunderkind, take note: He worked under Tom Douglas at Café Sport, as the original chef-exec at the Brooklyn and garnered national attention for Ponti before opening Axis. At Ponti, he met his future business partner Jose Gonzales, who runs the front of the house at Madoka.

Here you'll find wild seafood, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats and poultry, and local produce promoted on a menu that borrows from Asian and Latin cultures with dishes like smoked duck tamales ($8), sake-braised lamb shank ($21) and red curry seafood risotto ($19). Madoka is open for dinner 5:30-10 p.m. (closed Tuesdays).

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